Have you ever argued with someone who would never change their mind, even when all facts were against them? They’re not using logic to find answers, they’re using logic to justify the answer they already have. Our brains do that hundreds of times a day.

Understand this: excuses exist to make you feel better. They can fool others. They can dodge blame. They can even become a badge of honor (“if only it wasn’t for my back / wife / addiction to Jerry Springer“). But excuses exist only to numb your pain. They never help you get shit done.

You ask how to know if you’re making excuses or have a real reason not to try being an entrepreneur. Here’s a handy rule of thumb:

Ask yourself what you really want (Photo: Oliver Emberton)

So firstly ask yourself—do you really want this? I mean, I ‘want’ a perfect body, but I’m not willing to put in 6 hours a day for the next year to get there. If you’re not willing to make appropriate sacrifices for something, you don’t want it badly enough. That’s ok. Accept it and find another calling.

If you do want something, your mission is to plough through any excuses. They should be but a frail leaf in the path of a barrelling freight train.

Here’s one trick—every time you hear an excuse, reply to it with “yes—and?”:

The Beatles were rejected because “guitar groups are on the way out”. Michael Jordan didn’t make his high school basketball team. 12 different publishers turned down Harry Potter. Everyone meets rejection on the road to success.

4. I am not that much educated

Richard Branson is dyslexic and had poor grades. Steve Jobs dropped out of college. Most PhD’s aren’t entrepreneurs.

5. I don’t know how

No-one is born with knowledge of how to do anything. You faced the same problem with walking, talking, writing and typing. Yet here you are, connected to the sum of all human knowledge, online, for free. Use it.

6. I don’t have time

We all have the same 24 hours in the day. Give something else up, get smarter with your time, sleep less or find a way to need less time to start.

Driving requires you move at life-threatening speed inside a metal container propelled by the continuous ignition of an explosive petrochemical, surrounded by thousands of others, some of whom are drunk, doing the same. Cars can crash. Businesses can fail. You take sensible precautions—like wearing seatbelts and reading business books—and then you get on with your life.

9. What if/could/would

I don’t know what this means.

10. The idea is not perfect or might not work

Most business ideas are crap. Successful people make terrible decisions all the time. It doesn’t matter because they get back up and try something else. You don’t need to roll a double six first time—just keep playing the game.

This stuff can look scary from the outset. But I promise you, if you’re willing to look into it, you’ll find more books, options and people willing to help you on your journey than at any point in history. You’re immeasurably blessed already.

I’ll end with a story that Steve Jobs used to tell his staff.

The bins in his office weren’t being emptied, and Jobs asked his janitor what the problem was. The janitor explained that the lock on the door had been changed, and he couldn’t get a key.

It was an annoyance, but at least the janitor had a good reason.

Jobs explained this to his staff: “When you’re the janitor, reasons matter. Somewhere between the janitor and the CEO, reasons stop mattering”.

At a certain level, there’s no difference between a reason and an excuse.